Archive for the ‘Skin Stem Cells’ Category

AcuteMarketReports.com has Published New Research Report Title "Global Plant Stem Cell Market Size, Market Share, Application Analysis, Regional Outlook, Growth Trends, Key Players, Competitive Strategies And Forecasts, 2016 To 2022"Market Research report to their Database

Plant Stem Cell Market for Cosmetics - Growth, Share, Opportunities, Competitive Analysis, and Forecast, 2016 - 2022, the plant stem cell market for cosmetics was valued at USD 1,668.8 Mn in 2015, and is expected to reach USD 4,830.8 Mn by 2022, expanding at a CAGR of 15.9% from 2016 to 2022.

Browse Full Report Visit -http://www.acutemarketreports.com/report/plant-stem-cell-market

Market Insights:Plant extracts and plant parts such as fruits, glower, leaves, stems, roots, etc. are well known in cosmetic and pharmaceutical applications since ages. Application of plant and plant extracts in cosmetics is widespread and these products are used for purposes such as whitening, tanning, moisturizing, washings, etc. with recent research and introduction of plant and human stem cell products, their potential as a vital source of human tissue renewal. Normally, human skin renews itself constantly and protects the body against injury, infection and dehydration. Aging of stem cells results in decreased healing capacity and heightened degeneration of skin tissues. Hence, protection and support of stem cells is vital.Companies are increasingly creating products with plant stem cells which when used topically help in protecting skin stem cells from aging. Preference for developing skin-care products based on plant-derived stem cells is on the rise, based on the potential of stem cells to develop into different cell types in the body. Currently several types of plant stem cell extracts are available for application in cosmetics; however, the research predominantly has been focused on three namely lilac, Swiss apple and grape. The components found in these plants have been demonstrated to be a significant source of phyto stem cells. Grape seed is the most widely and longest observed botanical in the field of plant stem cells. The key players observed in plant stem cell cosmetics market are intelligent nutrients, Mibelle Group, MyChelle Dermaceuticals, and Juice Beauty.

Market Competition Assessment:

The plant stem cell market for cosmetics is observed as the most diversified and competitive market comprising large number of players. The market is dominated by several players, depending on their major competencies. The key players in this market are Mibelle Group, LOreal S.A., Estee Lauder, Inc., MyChelle Dermaceuticals, Juice Beauty, and Intelligent Nutrients.

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Key Market Movements: Tropical regions are observing high demand for plant-stem cell based products as UV exposure is increasing a higher risk of ageing and related conditions The desire for nutrients that can be absorbed through skin is driving the plant stem cell cosmetics market Over the past several decades, aesthetics and anti-aging and other aesthetic procedures were women dominant but the upcoming commercial cosmetic products have also targeted the male customers. However, still male population can be considered as an untapped market for plant stem cell cosmetics

Chapter 1 Preface1.1 Report Description1.1.1 Purpose of the Report1.1.2 Target Audience1.1.3 USP and Key Offerings1.2 Research Scope1.3 Research Methodology1.3.1 Phase I Secondary Research1.3.2 Phase II Primary Research1.3.3 Phase III Expert Panel Review1.3.4 Assumptions

Chapter 2 Executive Summary

Chapter 3 Global Plant Stem Cell Market for Cosmetics3.1 Overview3.1.1 Plant Stem Cell Cosmetics and Skin Repair3.2 Plant Stem Cell Market for Cosmetics : Manufacturing Process3.3 Plant Stem Cell Market for Cosmetics: Market Evolution and Forecast till 20223.4 Plant Stem Cell Market for Cosmetics: Pipeline Analysis3.5 Market Inclination Insights: Consumer Trend Analysis3.6 Market Dynamics3.6.1 Market Drivers3.6.1.1 Growing Demand for Natural and Organic Cosmetics3.6.1.2 Augmenting Trend for Cosmeceuticals3.6.2 Challenges3.6.2.1 Inadequate Investment in Cosmetic Research3.6.2.2 High Product Costs3.6.3 Opportunities3.6.3.1 Focus on Male Customers3.7 Attractive Investment Proposition, 20153.7.1 Cosmetics3.8 Market Positioning of Key Players Operating in Plant Stem Cell Industry for Cosmetics

Chapter 4 Global Plant Stems Market for Cosmetics, By Key Products Analysis: Market Dynamics and Outlook4.1 Introduction4.2 Amatokin Emulsion4.3 Absolue Precious Cell4.4 Stem Cell 3D Hydrafirm Serum4.5 Peptide Anti-Wrinkle Serum4.6 Stem Cellular Repair Moisturizer4.7 Cellular Power Infusion4.8 Apple Brightening Serum4.9 Alpine Rose Stem Cell Cream4.10 Tri-Lift Anti-Ageing Cream4.11 PhytoCellTec

Chapter 5 Global Plant Stem Cell Market for Cosmetics Analysis, By Applications5.1 Overview5.1.1 Skin Repair5.1.2 Anti-Inflammatory5.1.3 UV Protection5.1.4 Under Eye Care5.1.5 Skin Radiance5.1.6 Firming5.1.7 Anti-Cellulite5.1.8 Others (Hydration, Lip Care, Antioxidant, etc.)

Chapter 6 Global Plant Stem Cell Market for Cosmetics, By Geography6.1 Preface6.2 North America6.2.1 U.S6.2.2 Canada6.3 Europe6.3.1 U.K.6.3.2 Germany6.3.3 France6.3.4 Spain6.3.5 Italy6.3.6 Russia6.3.7 Rest of Europe6.4 Asia Pacific6.4.1 China6.4.2 Japan6.4.3 Rest of the Asia-Pacific6.5 Latin America6.5.1 Brazil6.5.2 Mexico6.5.3 Rest of Latin America6.6 Middle East and Africa6.6.1 Saudi Arabia6.6.2 UAE6.6.3 Iran6.6.4 Israel6.6.5 Egypt6.6.6 Lebanon6.6.7 Morocco6.6.8 Rest of Middle East and Africa

Chapter 7 Company Profiles of Key Players Operating in Plant Stem Cell-based Cosmetic Products Segment

7.1 LOreal SA7.1.1 LOreal SA: Company Snapshot (Business Description; Financial Health and Budget Allocation; Product Position/Portfolio; News Coverage)7.2 Paula's Choice, LLC.7.2.1 Paula's Choice, LLC.: Company Snapshot (Business Description; Financial Health and Budget Allocation; Product Position/Portfolio; News Coverage)7.3 DermaQuest7.3.1 DermaQuest: Company Snapshot (Business Description; Financial Health and Budget Allocation; Product Position/Portfolio; News Coverage)7.4 Estee Lauder, Inc.7.4.1 Estee Lauder, Inc.: Company Snapshot (Business Description; Financial Health and Budget Allocation; Product Position/Portfolio; News Coverage)7.5 MyChelleDermaceuticals7.5.1 MyChelleDermaceuticals: Company Snapshot (Business Description; Financial Health and Budget Allocation; Product Position/Portfolio; News Coverage)7.6 Juice Beauty7.6.1 Juice Beauty: Company Snapshot (Business Description; Financial Health and Budget Allocation; Product Position/Portfolio; News Coverage)7.7 Skinfinite, LLC7.7.1 Skinfinite, LLC: Company Snapshot (Business Description; Financial Health and Budget Allocation; Product Position/Portfolio; News Coverage)7.8 Golfaden MD Skincare7.8.1 Golfaden MD Skincare: Company Snapshot (Business Description; Financial Health and Budget Allocation; Product Position/Portfolio; News Coverage)7.9 La Vie Celeste7.9.1 La Vie Celeste: Company Snapshot (Business Description; Financial Health and Budget Allocation; Product Position/Portfolio; News Coverage)7.10 Indie Lee7.10.1 Indie Lee: Company Snapshot (Business Description; Financial Health and Budget Allocation; Product Position/Portfolio; News Coverage)

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Global Plant Stem Cell Market is expected to reach USD 4830.8 Mn expanding at a CAGR of 15.9% from 2017 to 2022 ... - Digital Journal

A novel device that reprograms skin cells could represent a breakthrough in repairing injured or aging tissue, researchers say. The new technique, called tissue nanotransfection, is based on a tiny device that sits on the surface of the skin of a living body. An intense, focused electric field is then applied across the device, allowing it to deliver genes to the skin cells beneath it -- turning them into different types of cells.

That, according to the researchers, offers an exciting development when it comes to repairing damaged tissue, offering the possibility of turning a patient's own tissue into a "bioreactor" to produce cells to either repair nearby tissues, or for use at another site.

"By using our novel nanochip technology, injured or compromised organs can be replaced," said Chandan Sen [pictured above], from the Ohio State University, who co-led the study. "We have shown that skin is a fertile land where we can grow the elements of any organ that is declining."

The ability for scientists to reprogram cells into other cell types is not new: the discovery scooped John Gurdon and Shinya Yamanaka the Nobel Prize in 2012 and is currently under research in myriad fields, including Parkinson's disease.

"You can change the fate of cells by incorporating into them some new genes," said Dr Axel Behren, an expert in stem cell research from the Francis Crick Institute in London, who was not involved in the Ohio research. "Basically you can take a skin cell and put some genes into them, and they become another cell, for example a neuron, or a vascular cell, or a stem cell."

But the new approach, says Sen, avoids an intermediary step where cells are turned into what are known as pluripotent stem cells, instead turning skin cells directly into functional cells of different types. "It is a single step process in the body," he said.

Furthermore, the new approach does not rely on applying an electric field across a large area of the cell, or the use of viruses to deliver the genes. "We are the first to be able to reprogram [cells] in the body without the use of any viral vector," said Sen.

The new research, published in the journal Nature Nanotechnology, describes how the team developed both the new technique and novel genes, allowing them to reprogramme skin cells on the surface of an animal in situ.

"They can put this little device on one piece of skin or onto the other piece of skin and the genes will go there, wherever they put [the device]," said Behrens.

The team reveal that they used the technique on mice with legs that had had their arteries cut, preventing blood flow through the limb. The device was then put on the skin of the mice, and an electric field applied to trigger changes in the cells' membrane, allowing the genes to enter the cells below. As a result, the team found that they were able to convert skin cells directly into vascular cells -with the effect extending deeper into the limb, in effect building a new network of blood vessels.

"Seven days later we saw new vessels and 14 days later we saw [blood flow] through the whole leg," said Sen.

The team were also able to use the device to convert skin cells on mice, into nerve cells which were then injected into the brains of mice who had experienced a stroke, helping them to recover.

"With this technology, we can convert skin cells into elements of any organ with just one touch. This process only takes less than a second and is non-invasive, and then you're off," said Sen.

The new technology, said Behrens is an interesting step, not least since it "avoids all issues with rejection".

"This is a clever use of an existing technique that has potential applications -- but massive further refinement is needed," he said, pointing out that there are standard surgical techniques to deal with blockages of blood flow in limbs.

What's more, he said, the new technique is unlikely to be used on areas other than skin, since the need for an electric current and the device near to the tissue means using it on internal organs would require an invasive procedure.

"Massive development [would be] needed for this to be used for anything else than skin," he said.

But Sen and colleagues say they are hoping to develop the technique further, with plans to start clinical trials in humans next year.

2017 Guardian Web under contract with NewsEdge/Acquire Media. All rights reserved.

Image credit: The Ohio State University Wexner Medical Center.

See the article here:
Nanochip Could Heal Injuries or Regrow Organs with One Touch - Sci-Tech Today

With a jolt from a tiny chip, humdrum skin cells may transform into medical mavericks.

A small electrical pulse blasts open tiny pores in cells and zaps in fragments of DNA or RNA loaded in the chips nanochannels. Those genetic deliveries then effectively reprogram the skin cells to act like other types of cells and repair damaged tissue. In early experiments on mice, researchers coaxed skin cells to act like brain cells. They also restored blood flow to a rodents injured limb by prompting skin cells to grow into new blood vessels.

The technology, published this week in Nature Nanotechnology, is still a long way from confirmed clinical applications in humans. But, the Ohio State researchers behind the chip are optimistic that it may one day perform myriad medical featsincluding healing severe injuries, restoring diseased organs, erasing brain damage, and even turning back the clock on aging tissues.

The researchers, led by regenerative medicine expert Chandan Sen and biomolecular engineer L. James Lee, expect to begin clinical trials next year.

The concept is very simple, Lee said in a press statement. As a matter of fact, we were even surprised how it worked so well. In my lab, we have ongoing research trying to understand the mechanism and do even better. So, this is the beginning, more to come.

Their concept is similar to other cell-based regenerative therapies under development, but it skips some pesky steps. Some other methods explored by researchersand dubious clinicsinvolve harvesting adult cells from patients, reprograming them to revert to stem cells, then injecting those cells back into patients, where they develop into a needed cell type.

But this setup has snags. Researchers often use viruses to deliver the genetic elements that reprogram the cells, which have caused cancer in some animal studies. The method also requires a lot of manipulation of cells in lab, adding complications. Its unclear if the suspect stem cell clinics are even successful at reprogramming cells.

The method used by Lee, Sen, and colleagues ditches the need for a virus and for any cellular handling. The electrical pulse opens pores in cells that allow for direct genetic deliverya process called electroporation. The researchers skipped the need to make stem cells by using preexisting methods of converting one cell type directly into a different one. Generally, this works by introducing bits of genetic material that code for gene regulators key to a specific cell type. Once delivered, these regulators can switch genes on or off so cells can start acting like the different cell type. Such a method has been worked out for creatingliver, brain, and vascular cellsfrom other cell types.

Finally, the researchers method also all takes place on a patch of skin on a living subject, potentially directly where its neededno cell harvesting or lab manipulations are required. (That said, the researchers note that future therapies could use skin patches to generate specific cell types that can then be transferred to other locations in the body if needed.)

So far, the researchers have dabbled with making brain cells and vasculature cells from skin cells. In early experiments, their direct delivery proved effective at converting the cells. The researcher verified that the converted cells mirrored normal brain and vasculature cells' gene expression profilesthe pattern of genes they have turned on and off.

In their ultimate test, the researchers severed leg arteries in ahandful of mice. Then a researcher placed over the injuries nanochips loaded with genetic ingredients for converting skin cells to vasculature cells. The conversion reached cells deep within the skin layers. After a week, the researchers saw more blood flow and less tissue death in the treated mice compared withcontrol animals that werent treated.

Much work still needs to be done to test the idea and prove it's effective for certain treatments. But the researchers are optimistic. They conclude in the study that the technology has the potential to ultimately enable the use of a patients own tissue as a prolific immunosurveilled bioreactor.

Nature Nanotechnology, 2017. DOI: 10.1038/nnano.2017.134 (About DOIs).

Continued here:
Heal thyself: Skin-zapping chip aims to reprogram cells for tissue repair - Ars Technica

Keeping a check on how many calories we consume helps to keep us looking trim from the outside. New research by collaborating scientists in the U.S. and Spain suggests that restricting calorie intake can also help to keep us more youthful on the inside by preventing age-related changes in how the natural rhythmical biological clocks within our cells work to control essential functions.

The two sets of studies in mice, by the team of Paolo Sassone-Corsi, Ph.D., at the University of California, Irvine (UCI), and by a research group headed by Salvador Aznar Benitah, Ph.D., at the Barcelona Institute of Science and Technology, have found that a low-calorie diet prevents age-related changes in the normal daily rhythmic oscillations in liver cell metabolism and adult stem cell functioning. They report their work in separate papers in the journal Cell that are entitled, Circadian Reprogramming in the Liver Identifies Metabolic Pathways of Aging and Aged Stem Cells Reprogram Their Daily Rhythmic Functions to Adapt to Stress.

Its already known that the process of aging and circadian rhythms are linked, while restricting calorie intake in fruit flies extends the insects lifespan. Work by the UCI and Barcelona Institute of Science and Technology researchers has now demonstrated that calorie restriction (CR) can influence the interplay between circadian rhythms and aging processes in cells.

The liver operates at the interface between nutrition and energy distribution in the body, and metabolism is controlled within cells under circadian control, explains the UCI team, led by Dr. Sassone-Corsi, director of the Center for Epigenetics & Metabolism. To investigate the effects of aging on circadian control of metabolism at the cellular level, the team first looked at the effects of aging on rhythmic function and circadian gene expression in the liver cells of both young mice (aged 6 months) and older mice (aged 18 months) that were an unrestricted diet. They found that although both young and old mice demonstrated a circadian-controlled metabolic system, the mechanisms that control gene expression according to the cells usage of energy was altered in the old mice. In effect, their liver cells processed energy less efficiently.

However, when these older mice were fed a diet with 30% fewer calories for six months, the biological clock was reset, and circadian functions were restored to those of younger mice. caloric restriction works by rejuvenating the biological clock in a most powerful way, Sassone-Corsi said in a statement. In this context, a good clock meant good aging.

For the companion study, the Barcelona Institute of Science and Technology team worked with professor Sassone-Corsis team and with colleagues at the Catalan Institution for Research and Advanced Studies, the Universitat Pompeu Fabra, and the Spanish National Center for Cardiovascular Research to compare circadian rhythm functionality in skin stem cells in both young and old mice. Again, stem cells in older mice did retain a circadian rhythm, but exhibited significant reprogramming away from the expression of genes involved in homeostasis to those involved with tissue-specific stresses, such as DNA damage. The stem cells were effectively rewired to match tissue-specific age-related traits.This age-related rewiring of circadian functionality was again prevented by long-term CR in older mice.

The low-calorie diet greatly contributes to preventing the effects of physiological aging," commented Benitah. "Keeping the rhythm of stem cells 'young' is important because in the end these cells serve to renew and preserve very pronounced daynight cycles in tissue. Eating less appears to prevent tissue aging and, therefore, prevent stem cells from reprogramming their circadian activities."

Future studies will be needed to identify which components are responsible for the aging-related rewiring of the daily fluctuating functions of stem cells and to find out whether they could be targeted therapeutically to maintain the proper timing of stem cell function during aging in humans, the Spanish team suggests in their published paper.

"These studies also present something like a molecular holy grail, revealing the cellular pathway through which aging is controlled," Sassone-Corsi added. "The findings provide a clear introduction on how to go about controlling these elements of aging in a pharmacological perspective."

Go here to read the rest:
Calorie-Controlled Diet Restores Youthful Rhythmic Control of Metabolism in Old Mice - Genetic Engineering & Biotechnology News (blog)

The wonders of modern science know no bounds. Scientists in the U.S. have managedto grow brain cells from skin cells. They are now using tissue nanotransfection also known as TNT to grow brain cells on human skin. As a result, the skin can perform different functions, including boosting onescognitive abilities.

The human skin is not something most people think about too often, despite it being thebodys largest organ. We know it keeps our other organs inside of our body and protects us from cold, heat, and other weather conditions. It can also grow hair all over and even more in certain places to give us better protection against external threats. However, what it does under the hood is a major mystery to most people walking around on the surface of this planet. That may change pretty quickly thanks to a procedurecalledtissue nanotransfection.

Scientists have been enamored with this conceptfor some time now. Being able to make the human skin perform varioustasks based on evolvingneeds would unlock seemingly limitless possibility. The concept of using a microchip to grow brain cells on ones skin may not sound all thatappealing, but it should not be dismissed out of hand either. It is this chip which could make your skin perform all sorts of different functions, including improving your cognitive capabilities for a brief period of time.

Implanting chips within the human body is still a controversial idea. That stigma will remain present for quite some time, but developments such as tissue nanotransfection may help change things for the better. Harnessing this power through embedded microchips will allow humans to grow whatever type of cells they need at any given time. It can be used to speed up recovery from injury, fight off diseases, or even improve your brain capacity. That lastone sounds a bit scary, but it couldcertainly have its benefits.

The nanochip in question wasdeveloped by researchers at the Ohio State University Wexner Medical Center. This chip uses a small electric current to deliver DNA toliving skin cells, and effectively reprogramming them. Touch the chip to a wounded area, for example, and remove it immediately afterwards: the affected cells will start to heal faster and ensure the patient can recover more quickly. It will be interesting to see how human hosts respond to such treatment.

According to Nature Nanotechnology, this technique has been tested successfully onboth pigs and mice. Introducing new blood vessels to badly injured limbs savedthem fromlosing said limbs dueto lackluster blood flow. Additionally, the same technology has been used to create nerve cells from skin which canthen be harvested and injected into animals with brain injuries to help them recover. It shows a lot of potential for the future.

This new method ensures that immune suppression is no longer a necessity for the cells in question. It also bypassesthe conversion from skin to stem cell by transformingdirectly into whichever cell is needed at any given time. This is a very big leapand may ultimatelyalter the way we think abouthealth care altogether. The goal now is to successfully test the system usinghuman hosts and see how things play out in the long run.

Read more from the original source:
Scientists Develop Nanochip That Turns Skin Into Brain Cells - The Merkle

Researchers demonstrate a process known as tissue nanotransfection (TNT). When it comes to healing, this TNT is the bomb.

It's usually bad news to have something growing on your skin, but new technology uses that all important layer as a sort of garden to "grow" whatever types of cells your body might need to treat an injury or disease, be it in a limb or even the brain.

Researchers atthe Ohio State University Wexner Medical Centerhave developed a nanochip that uses a small electrical current to deliver new DNA or RNA into living skin cells, "reprogramming" them and giving them a new function.

"It takes just a fraction of a second. You simply touch the chip to the wounded area, then remove it,"Chandan Sen, director of the Center for Regenerative Medicine and Cell-Based Therapies at Ohio State, said in a statement. "At that point, the cell reprogramming begins."

In a study published in the journal Nature Nanotechnology, Sen's team used a technology called Tissue Nanotransfection (TNT) to create new blood vessels in pigs and mice with badly injured limbs that lacked blood flow.

They zapped the animals' skin with the device, and within about a week, active blood vessels appeared, essentially saving the creatures' legs. The tech was also used to create nerve cells from skin that were then harvested and injected into mice with brain injuries to help them recover.

"By using our novel nanochip technology, injured or compromised organs can be replaced," Sen said. "We have shown that skin is a fertile land where we can grow the elements of any organ that is declining."

While it sounds futuristic, reprogramming skin cells is not a new idea. The ability to change skin into pluripotent stem cells, sometimes called "master" cells, earned a few scientists a Nobel Prize half a decade ago. But the new nanochip approach improves upon that discovery by skipping the conversion from skin to stem cell and instead converting a skin cell into whatever type of cell is desired in a single step.

"Our technology keeps the cells in the body under immune surveillance, so immune suppression is not necessary," Sen says.

By now I think we've all learned that beauty is only skin deep, but it might take a while to learn that the same could go for cures, at least if the system works just as well on people.

Next up, the scientists hope to find out by continuing to test their technology in human trials. The aim is that it could eventually be used to treat all sorts of organ and tissue failure, including diseases like Parkinson's and Alzheimers.

Crowd Control: A crowdsourced science fiction novel written by CNET readers.

Solving for XX:The tech industry seeks to overcome outdated ideas about "women in tech."

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Wild new microchip tech could grow brain cells on your skin - CNET

A med-tech startup has developed a fast and easy way to treat certain burn wounds with stem cells. This technology is developed by German researcher Dr. Jrg Gerlach. He is the worlds first ever person who use a patients stem cells to directly heal the skin. The technique is meant to reduce the healing time and minimize complications, with aesthetically and functionally satisfying outcomes. There are no scars, no residual pain and its like there wasnt any burn to start with. Its not less than a miracle.

The medical technology startup has now transformed the proof-of-concept device from a complicated prototype into a user-friendly product called a SkinGun, which it hopes doctors will be able to use outside of an experimental setting. RenovaCare CEO Thomas Bold believes, the SkinGun can compete with, or even replace, todays standard of care. The sprayer allows us to have a generous distribution of cells on the wound, explained Roger Esteban-Vives, director of cell sciences at RenovaCare.

RenovaCares SkinGun sprays a liquid suspension of a patients stem cells onto a burn or wound in order to re-grow the skin without scars. Stem-cell methods helped cut this risk by quickening healing and providing a source of new skin from a very small area. Cell Mist method gets a greater yield from its harvest than mesh grafting, a more common way to treat burns. At a maximum, grafting can treat six times the size of its harvest area. Cell Mist can cover 100 times its harvest area.

When dispensing cells over a wound, its important that they make the transition without any damage. Damaged cells reduce the effectiveness of the treatment.

High cell viability also contributes to faster healing. When a wound heals naturally, cells migrate to it to build up the skin. That process can take weeks.

Stem cells have tremendous promise to help us understand and treat a range of diseases, injuries and other health-related conditions.

There is still a lot to learn about stem cells, however, and their current applications as treatments are sometimes exaggerated by the media and other parties who do not fully understand the science and current limitations

Beyond regulatory matters, there are also limitations to the technology that make it unsuitable for competing with treatments of third-degree burns, which involve damage to muscle and other tissue below the skin.

When burn victims need a skin graft they typically have to grow skin on other parts of their bodies. This is a process that can take weeks. A new technique uses stem cells derived from the umbilical cord to generate new skin much more quickly.The umbilical cord consists of a gelatinous tissue that contains uncommitted mesenchymal stemcells (MSC)

Research is underway to develop various sources for stem cells, and to apply stem-cell treatments for neurodegenertive diseasesand conditions such as diabetes, heart disease, and other conditions.

Tens of thousands of grafts are performed each year for burn victims, cosmetic surgery patients, and for people with large wounds having difficulty healing. Traditionally, this involves taking a large patch of skin (typically from the thigh) and removing the dermis and epidermis to transplant elsewhere on the body. Burns victims are making incredible recoveries thanks to a revolutionary gun that sprays stem cells on to their wounds, enabling them to rapidly grow new skin. Patients who have benefited say their new skin is virtually indistinguishable from that on the rest of the body.

Thomas Bold, chief executive of RenovaCare, the company behind SkinGun, said: The procedure is gentler and the skin that regrows looks, feels and functions like the original skin.

If you are planning to have stem cell treatments dont forget to remember these points

Stem cell researchers are making great advances in understanding normal development. They are trying to figure out what goes wrong in disease and developing and testing potential treatments to help patients. They still have much to learn. However, about how stem cells work in the body and their capacity for healing. Safe and effective treatments for most diseases, conditions and injuries are in the future.

Excerpt from:
Miraculous Burn-Healing Through Stem Cell Treatment - Fox Weekly

Technologies that reprogram one type of cell to perform the role of another hold a huge amount of potential when it comes to medicine, possibly changing the way we treat everything from Parkinson's to pancreatic cancer to brain tumors. One broader outcome of all of this could be a game-changing ability to repair and restore damaged tissue and organs. Scientists are now reporting a promising advance in the area, in the form of patch that they say can use an electric pulse to turn skin cells into the building blocks of any organ.

The new technology has been dubbed tissue nanotransfection and was developed by scientists at The Ohio State University's Wexner Medical Center. According to the researchers, it uses the skin as a kind of regenerative cellular factory, where it produces any cell type that can then be used to repair injured or aging tissues, organs and blood vessels. It consists of a nanotechnology-based chip that is applied to the skin, which is then struck with a short electric pulse to deliver genetic instructions into the cells of the tissue.

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"These are genes that induce tissue plasticity allowing the flexibility to direct the fate," Chandan Sen, first author of the paper, explains to New Atlas. "Thus, for example, skin cells can be directed to form blood vessels, or neural cells, or some other cell of interest."

We have seen a number of promising approaches to reprogramming cells for various regenerative health purposes. In 2012, a Japanese researcher won a Nobel Prize for his discovery that skin cells from mice could be harvested and converted into stem cells in the lab, work that has inspired a number of exciting breakthroughs since.

But according to Sen, one of the main advantages his tissue nanotransfection technology holds over other approaches is the fact that the cell conversion takes place in the body. This avoids the thorny issue of immune response, in which the host cells react to the newcomers and possibly attack them, something that can cause a raft of complications.

"Ours is reprogramming of not just cells but tissue within the live body under immune surveillance," he tells us. "Our strategy must co-operate with physiological factors to achieve the end goal."

That end goal is still a while away, but his team is making promising progress all the same. It put the technology to the test on animals, and in one experiment involving mice with badly injured legs lacking blood flow, it was able to convert skin cells into vascular cells. Within about a week, the legs featured active blood vessels. By the second week they were saved.

In a separate experiment, the team was also able to use the technology to reprogram skin cells into nerve cells, which were then injected into brain-injured mice to assist with stroke recovery.

"This is difficult to imagine, but it is achievable, successfully working about 98 percent of the time," said Sen. "With this technology, we can convert skin cells into elements of any organ with just one touch. This process only takes less than a second and is non-invasive, and then you're off. The chip does not stay with you, and the reprogramming of the cell starts. Our technology keeps the cells in the body under immune surveillance, so immune suppression is not necessary."

The team hopes to move onto clinical trials some time next year, but Sen tells us they must first test the technology on larger animals and design the device to work on humans.

You can hear from Sen in the video below, while the research was published in the journal Nature Nanotechnology.

Source: Ohio State University

Link:
Chip reprograms skin cells with a short electric pulse - New Atlas

The chip has not been tested in humans, but it has been used to heal wounds in mice. Wexner Medical Center/The Ohio State University hide caption

The chip has not been tested in humans, but it has been used to heal wounds in mice.

Scientists have created an electronic wafer that reprogrammed damaged skin cells on a mouse's leg to grow new blood vessels and help a wound heal.

One day, creator Chandan Sen hopes, it could be used to be used to treat wounds on humans. But that day is a long way off as are many other regeneration technologies in the works. Like Sen, some scientists have begun trying to directly reprogram one cell type into another for healing, while others are attempting to build organs or tissues from stem cells and organ-shaped scaffolding.

But other scientists have greeted Sen's mouse experiment, published in Nature Nanotechnology on Monday, with extreme skepticism. "My impression is that there's a lot of hyperbole here," says Sean Morrison, a stem cell researcher at the University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center. "The idea you can [reprogram] a limited number of cells in the skin and improve blood flow to an entire limb I think it's a pretty fantastic claim. I find it hard to believe."

When the device is placed on live skin and activated, it sends a small electrical pulse onto the skin cells' membrane, which opens a tiny window on the cell surface. "It's about 2 percent of the cell membrane," says Sen, who is a researcher in regenerative medicine at Ohio State University. Then, using a microscopic chute, the chip shoots new genetic code through that window and into the cell where it can begin reprogramming the cell for a new fate.

Sen says the whole process takes less than 0.1 seconds and can reprogram the cells resting underneath the device, which is about the size of a big toenail. The best part is that it's able to successfully deliver its genetic payload almost 100 percent of the time, he says. "No other gene delivery technique can deliver over 98 percent efficiency. That is our triumph."

Chandan Sen, a researcher at Ohio State University, holds a chip his lab created that has reprogrammed cells in mice. Wexner Medical Center/The Ohio State University hide caption

Chandan Sen, a researcher at Ohio State University, holds a chip his lab created that has reprogrammed cells in mice.

To test the device's healing capabilities, Sen and his colleagues took a few mice with damaged leg arteries and placed the chip on the skin near the damaged artery. That reprogrammed a centimeter or two of skin to turn into blood vessel cells. Sen says the cells that received the reprogramming genes actually started replicating the reprogramming code that the researchers originally inserted in the chip, repackaging it and sending it out to other nearby cells. And that initiated the growth of a new network of blood vessels in the leg that replaced the function of the original, damaged artery, the researchers say. "Not only did we make new cells, but those cells reorganized to make functional blood vessels that plumb with the existing vasculature and carry blood," Sen says. That was enough for the leg to fully recover. Injured mice that didn't get the chip never healed.

When the researchers used the chip on healthy legs, no new blood vessels formed. Sen says because injured mouse legs were was able to incorporate the chip's reprogramming code into the ongoing attempt to heal.

That idea hasn't quite been accepted by other researchers, however. "It's just a hand waving argument," Morrison says. "It could be true, but there's no evidence that reprogramming works differently in an injured tissue versus a non-injured tissue."

What's more, the role of exosomes, the vesicles that supposedly transmit the reprogramming command to other cells, has been contentious in medical science. "There are all manners of claims of these vesicles. It's not clear what these things are, and if it's a real biological process or if it's debris," Morrison says. "In my lab, we would want to do a lot more characterization of these exosomes before we make any claims like this."

Sen says that the theory that introduced reprogramming code from the chip or any other gene delivery method does need more work, but he isn't deterred by the criticism. "This clearly is a new conceptual development, and skepticism is understandable," he says. But he is steadfast in his confidence about the role of reprogrammed exosomes. When the researchers extracted the vesicles and injected them into skin cells in the lab, Sen says those cells converted into blood vessel cells in the petri dish. "I believe this is definitive evidence supporting that [these exosomes] may induce cell conversion."

Even if the device works as well as Sen and his colleagues hope it does, they only tested it on mice. Repairing deeper injuries, like vital organ damage, would also require inserting the chip into the body to reach the wound site. It has a long way to go before it can ever be considered for use on humans. Right now, scientists can only directly reprogram adult cells into a limited selection of other cell types like muscle, neurons and blood vessel cells. It'll be many years before scientists understand how to reprogram one cell type to become part of any of our other, many tissues.

Still, Morrison says the chip is an interesting bit of technology. "It's a cool idea, being able to release [genetic code] through nano channels," he says. "There may be applications where that's advantageous in some way in the future."

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A Chip That Reprograms Cells Helps Healing, At Least In Mice - NPR

"By using our novel nanochip technology, injured or compromised organs can be replaced, said Dr Sen.

We have shown that skin is a fertile land where we can grow the elements of any organ that is declining.

TNT extends the concept known as gene therapy, which has been known about for some time, however the big difference is how the DNA is delivered into the body.

"The concept is very simple," said Professor James Lee, who co-led the research.

"As a matter of fact, we were even surprised how it worked so well.

In my lab, we have ongoing research trying to understand the mechanism and do even better.

So, this is the beginning, more to come."

"By using our novel nanochip technology, injured or compromised organs can be replaced. We have shown that skin is a fertile land where we can grow the elements of any organ that is declining, said Dr Sen.

The study is published in the journal Nature Nanotechnology.

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'Breakthrough' penny-sized nanochip pad is able to regrow organs and heal injuries - Telegraph.co.uk

Stem cell therapy has been claimed to cure cancer, improve chronic conditions such as headaches, and even make your skin look younger. How can that not be a good thing?

Youve probably heard about stem cell research before, but what exactly are stem cells, and how can stem cells injected into the body treat various diseases and conditions?

There has been enormous progress in this field over the last few decades, so let's take a look at how stem cell injections work.

What exactly are stem cells?

Stem cells are the bodys building blocks the reserve cells that the body is made up of. These cells are able to produce multiple different cells, each performing a specific function. Stem cells can be divided into two main categories:

What is stem cell therapy?

Stem cell therapy can be categorised as regenerative medicine. Stem cells used in medical treatments are currently harvested from three sources: umbilical cord blood, bone marrow and blood. These are treatments that restore damaged tissue and regenerate new cells in the case of illness or injury.

While there are other forms of stem cell therapy, these are still in the early stages and regarded as research.

How is stem cell therapy performed?

Adult stem cells are derived from a blood sample and injected back into the patient's blood. The surrounding cells are then activated, stimulating rejuvenation in the area.

Why the controversy?

In 2004 South Africa became the first African nation to open a stem cell bank. This involved embryonic stem cells for cloning research and not the "adult" stem cells used in treatment.

Embryonic stem cells are often viewed as problematic, as they are derived from very young foetuses. It is thus viewed as a form of "abortion" to use embryonic stem cells for treatment. But in most cases of stem cell therapy adult stem cells are used, which causes few ethical problems. Stem cells derived from the umbilical cord are not the same as from the embryo.

What does science say?

Prof Jacqui Greenberg from the University of Cape Town stated that although stem cells can potentially treat various diseases, they should be treated with extreme care.

She has no doubt that in time (in medical science particularly, progress is slow and measured in blocks of 10 years), stem cells will be the solution for many things. "But right now we have to strike a balance of not creating too much hype and raising hope too soon. Stem cells are the future, but the future is not now," Greenberg states.

The reason for this is that stem cells derived from an adult are too volatile at times. Researchers are not clear on how many of these stem cells will actually "survive" and "activate" to treat the condition at hand. Therefore it can't be predicted how many cells will survive and become functional.

There is as yet little proof that stem cells can actually fight disease when injected back into the host.Despite the success of IPS cell technology up to date, there are stillchallenges with regard to the purity of stem cells before their use in therapy.

Availability and cost in South Africa

Stem cell therapy is available at various treatment centres in South Africa. One of the most prominent is the South African Stem Cell Institute in the Free State. Here, various treatments, such as regenerative skin treatments and prolotherapy (regeneration of the joints), are offered.

Therapy starts with an initial consultation. During the second consultation vitals are checked, followed by either the fat harvest procedure under tumescent anaesthesia or bone marrow aspiration under local anaesthesia.

The stem cells are then cryopreserved and injected into the patient as needed. Prices of the treatment vary from R500 (for a once-off treatment in a small area, such as the hand) to R22 500 (a comprehensive process), depending on the condition being treated and length of treatment needed. This excludes the initial consultation fee and after-care.

There are also stem cell banks in South Africa, such as Cryo-Save, where stem cells can be stored at an annual fee (excluding initial consultation, testing and harvesting) and used for treatment.

Do your own research

If you do want to go the stem cell route, make sure that the medical programme being offered is legitimate and that the projected outcome is based on real evidence.

There are a number of private institutions banking on the promise of curing any number of diseases with stem cells from a patient's own blood. The truth, however, is that there is no conclusive proof that the majority of these diseases can be cured with the person's own stem cells annihilating the claim that stem cell therapy is the solution to all diseases.

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Is stem cell injection the cure-all miracle? - Health24

The PASE, or post-implantation amniotic sac embryoid, is a structure grown from human pluripotent stem cells that mimics many of the properties of the amniotic sac that forms soon after an embryo implants in the uterus wall. The structures could be used to study infertility. Credit: University of Michigan

The first few weeks after sperm meets egg still hold many mysteries. Among them: what causes the process to fail, leading to many cases of infertility.

Despite the importance of this critical stage, scientists haven't had a good way to explore what can go wrong, or even what must go right, after the newly formed ball of cells implants in the wall of the human uterus.

But a new achievement using human stem cells may help change that. Tiny lab-grown structures could give researchers a chance to see what they couldn't before, while avoiding ethical issues associated with studying actual embryos.

A team from the University of Michigan reports in Nature Communications that they have coaxed pluripotent human stem cells to grow on a specially engineered surface into structures that resemble an early aspect of human development called the amniotic sac.

The cells spontaneously developed some of the same structural and molecular features seen in a natural amniotic sac, which is an asymmetric, hollow ball-like structure containing cells that will give rise to a part of the placenta as well as the embryo itself. But the structures grown at U-M lack other key components of the early embryo, so they can't develop into a fetus.

It's the first time a team has grown such a structure starting with stem cells, rather than coaxing a donated embryo to grow, as a few other teams have done.

"As many as half of all pregnancies end in the first two weeks after fertilization, often before the woman is even aware she is pregnant. For some couples, there is a chronic inability to get past these critical early developmental steps, but we have not previously had a model that would allow us to explore the reasons why," says co-senior author Deborah Gumucio, Ph.D. "We hope this work will make it possible for many scientists to dig deeper into the pathways involved in normal and abnormal development, so we can understand some of the most fascinating biology on earth." Gumucio is the Engel Collegiate Professor of Cell & Developmental Biology at Michigan Medicine, U-M's academic medical center.

A steady PASE

The researchers have dubbed the new structure a post-implantation amniotic sac embryoid, or PASE. They describe how a PASE develops as a hollow spherical structure with two distinct halves that remain stable even as cells divide.

One half is made of cells that will become amniotic ectoderm, the other half consists of pluripotent epiblast cells that in nature make up the embryonic disc. The hollow center resembles the amniotic cavity - which in normal development eventually gives rise to the fluid-filled sac that protects and cushions the fetus during development.

Gumucio likens a PASE to a mismatched plastic Easter egg or a blue-and-red Pokmon ball - with two clearly divided halves of two kinds of cells that maintain a stable form around a hollow center.

The team also reports details about the genes that became activated during the development of a PASE, and the signals that the cells in a PASE send to one another and to neighboring tissues. They show that a stable two-halved PASE structure relies on a signaling pathway called BMP-SMAD that's known to be critical to embryo development.

Gumucio notes that the PASE structures even exhibit the earliest signs of initiating a "primitive streak", although it did not fully develop. In a human embryo, the streak would start a process called gastrulation. That's the division of new cells into three cell layersendoderm, mesoderm and ectodermthat are essential to give rise to all organs and tissues in the body.

Collaboration provides the spark

The new study follows directly from previous collaborative work between Gumucio's lab and that of the other senior author, U-M mechanical engineering associate professor Jianping Fu, Ph.D.

In the previous work, reported in Nature Materials, the team succeeded in getting balls of stem cells to implant in a special surface engineered in Fu's lab to resemble a simplified uterine wall. They showed that once the cells attached themselves to this substrate, they began to differentiate into hollow cysts composed entirely of amnion - a tough extraembryonic tissue that holds the amniotic fluid.

But further analysis of these cysts by co-first authors of the new paper Yue Shao, Ph.D., a graduate student in Fu's lab, and Ken Taniguchi, a postdoctoral fellow in Gumucio's lab, revealed that a small subset of these cysts were stably asymmetric and looked exactly like early human or monkey amniotic sacs.

The team found that such structures could also grow from induced pluripotent stem cells (iPSCs)cells derived from human skin and grown in the lab under conditions that give them the ability to become any type of cell, similar to how embryonic stem cells behave. This opens the door for future work using skin cells donated by couples experiencing chronic infertility, which could be grown into iPSCs and tested for their ability to form proper amniotic sacs using the methods devised by the team.

Important notes and next steps

Besides working with genetic and infertility specialists to delve deeper into PASE biology as it relates to human infertility, the team is hoping to explore additional characteristics of amnion tissue.

For example, early rupture of the amnion tissue can endanger a fetus or be the cause of a miscarriage. The team also intends to study which aspects of human amnion formation also occur in development of mouse amnion. The mouse embryo model is very attractive as an in vivo model for investigating human genetic diseases.

The team's work is overseen by a panel that monitors all work done with pluripotent stem cells at U-M, and the studies are performed in accordance with laws regarding human stem cell research. The team ends experiments before the balls of cells effectively reach 14 developmental days, the cutoff used as an international limit on embryo researcheven though the work involves tissue that cannot form an embryo. Some of the stem cell lines were derived at U-M's privately funded MStem Cell Laboratory for human embryonic stem cells, and the U-M Pluripotent Stem Cell Core.

Explore further: Team uses stem cells to study earliest stages of amniotic sac formation

More information: Yue Shao et al, A pluripotent stem cell-based model for post-implantation human amniotic sac development, Nature Communications (2017). DOI: 10.1038/s41467-017-00236-w

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Amniotic sac in a dish: Stem cells form structures that may aid of infertility research - Phys.Org

Injured tissues can be repaired and damaged organs healed using a new nanotech device that adapts a patients own skin to generate stem cells, according to a paper published in the journal Nature Nanotechnology.

Researchers from Ohio State University call the new technology tissue nanotransfection (TNT).

They say TNT which is basically a lab on a chip can adapt skin cells to change into any type of tissue required, which can then be introduced to injured or degenerated areas. They claim a success rate of 98%.

With this technology we can convert skin cells into elements of any organ with just one touch, says co-author Chandan Sen. This process only takes less than a second and is non-invasive, and then you're off. The chip does not stay with you, and the reprogramming of the cell starts. Our technology keeps the cells in the body under immune surveillance, so immune suppression is not necessary."

Lead author Daniel Gallego-Perez says the new technology comprises two elements: the nanotech chip designed to introduce reprogrammed DNA into existing adult cells; and a specific biological cargo that induces the cells to change from one type to another.

The device works using a small electrical charge.

It does not require any laboratory-based procedures, according to Gallego-Perez, and can be used at the point of care a doctors office, say, or an outpatient clinic.

The paper describes experiments on mice and pigs. These included using the device to act upon badly injured legs that lacked blood flow. One week after the application of TNT, vascular vessels reappeared. Within a fortnight flow was back within normal parameters.

In a second experiment, skin cells were converted into nerve cells and introduced into the brains of mice crippled by stroke.

Says Sen: By using our novel nanochip technology, injured or compromised organs can be replaced. We have shown that skin is a fertile land where we can grow the elements of any organ that is declining.

The concept is very simple, adds co-author James Lee: As a matter of fact, we were even surprised how it worked so well. In my lab, we have ongoing research trying to understand the mechanism and do even better. So this is the beginning, more to come.

Lee, Sen and Gallego-Perez were part of a group of researchers that lodged a patent application in 2016 for an earlier iteration of TNT: a device that enables compositions and methods for reprogramming somatic cells into induced endothelial cells.

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Nano-chip promises to heal organs at a touch | Cosmos - Cosmos

A University of Chicago-based research team has overcome challenges that have limited gene therapy and demonstrated how their novel approach with skin transplantation could enable a wide range of gene-based therapies to treat many human diseases.

In a study inthe journal Cell Stem Cell, the researchers provide proof-of-concept. They describe gene-therapy administered through skin transplants to treat two related and extremely common human ailments: Type 2 diabetes and obesity.

We resolved some technical hurdles and designed a mouse-to-mouse skin transplantation model in animals with intact immune systems, said study author Xiaoyang Wu, assistant professor in the Ben May Department for Cancer Research at the University of Chicago. We think this platform has the potential to lead to safe and durable gene therapy in mice and, we hope, in humans, using selected and modified cells from skin.

Beginning in the 1970s, physicians learned how to harvest skin stem cells from a patient with extensive burn wounds, grow them in the laboratory, then apply the lab-grown tissue to close and protect a patients wounds. This approach is now standard. However, the application of skin transplants is better developed in humans than in mice.

The mouse system is less mature, Wu said. It took us a few years to optimize our 3-D skin organoid culture system.

This study is the first to show that an engineered skin graft can survive long term in wild-type mice with intact immune systems. We have a better than 80 percent success rate with skin transplantation, Wu said. This is exciting for us.

The researchers focused on diabetes because it is a common non-skin disease that can be treated by the strategic delivery of specific proteins.

They inserted the gene for glucagon-like peptide 1 (GLP1), a hormone that stimulates the pancreas to secrete insulin. This extra insulin removes excessive glucose from the bloodstream, preventing the complications of diabetes. GLP1 can also delay gastric emptying and reduce appetite.

Using CRISPR, a tool for precise genetic engineering, they modified the GLP1 gene. They inserted one mutation, designed to extend the hormones half-life in the blood stream, and fused the modified gene to an antibody fragment so that it would circulate in the blood stream longer. They also attached an inducible promoter, which enabled them to turn on the gene to make more GLP1, as needed, by exposing it to the antibiotic doxycycline. Then they inserted the gene into skin cells and grew those cells in culture.

When these cultured cells were exposed to an air/liquid interface in the laboratory, they stratified, generating what the authors referred to as a multi-layered, skin-like organoid. Next, they grafted this lab-grown gene-altered skin onto mice with intact immune systems. There was no significant rejection of the transplanted skin grafts.

When the mice ate food containing minute amounts of doxycycline, they released dose-dependent levels of GLP1 into the blood. This promptly increased blood-insulin levels and reduced blood-glucose levels.

When the researchers fed normal or gene-altered mice a high-fat diet, both groups rapidly gained weight. They became obese. When normal and gene-altered mice got the high-fat diet along with varying levels of doxycycline, to induce GLP1 release, the normal mice grew fat and mice expressing GLP1 showed less weight gain.

Expression of GLP1 also lowered glucose levels and reduced insulin resistance.

Together, our data strongly suggest that cutaneous gene therapy with inducible expression of GLP1 can be used for the treatment and prevention of diet-induced obesity and pathologies, the authors wrote.

When they transplanted gene-altered human cells to mice with a limited immune system, they saw the same effect. These results, the authors wrote, suggest that cutaneous gene therapy for GLP1 secretion could be practical and clinically relevant.

This approach, combining precise genome editing in vitro with effective application of engineered cells in vivo, could provide significant benefits for the treatment of many human diseases, the authors note.

We think this can provide a long-term safe option for the treatment of many diseases, Wu said. It could be used to deliver therapeutic proteins, replacing missing proteins for people with a genetic defect, such as hemophilia. Or it could function as a metabolic sink, removing various toxins.

Skin progenitor cells have several unique advantages that are a perfect fit for gene therapy. Human skin is the largest and most accessible organ in the body. It is easy to monitor. Transplanted skin can be quickly removed if necessary. Skins cells rapidly proliferate in culture and can be easily transplanted. The procedure is safe, minimally invasive and inexpensive.

There is also a need. More than 100 million U.S. adults have either diabetes (30.3 million) or prediabetes (84.1 million), according the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. More than two out of three adults are overweight. More than one out of three are considered obese.

Additional authors of the study were Japing Yue, Queen Gou, and Cynthia Li from the University of Chicago and Barton Wicksteed from the University of Illinois at Chicago. The National Institutes of Health, the American Cancer Society and the V Foundation funded the study.

Article originally appeared on Science Life.

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Gene therapy via skin could treat diseases such as obesity - UChicago News

Stem cells have been cultured to treat many different of conditions

Lewis Houghton/Science Photo Library

By Andy Coghlan

Last week, two people with type 1 diabetes became the first to receive implants containing cells generated from embryonic stem cells to treat their condition. The hope is that when blood sugar levels rise, the implants will release insulin to restore them to normal.

About 10 per cent of the 422 million people who have diabetes worldwide have type 1 diabetes, which is caused by the bodys immune system mistakenly attacking cells in the pancreas that make insulin. For more than 15 years, researchers have been trying to find a way to use stem cells to replace these, but there have been several hurdles not least, how to get the cells to work in the body.

Viacyte, a company in San Diego, California, is trying a way to get round this. The firms thumbnail-sized implant, called PEC-Direct, contain cells derived from stem cells that can mature inside the body into the specialised islet cells that get destroyed in type 1 diabetes.

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The implant sits just below the skin, in the forearm, for example, and is intended to automatically compensate for the missing islet cells, releasing insulin when blood sugar levels get too high.

If it works, we would call it a functional cure, says Paul Laikind, of Viacyte. Its not truly a cure because we wouldnt address the autoimmune cause of the disease, but we would be replacing the missing cells.

The device has already been safety tested in 19 people with diabetes, using smaller numbers of cells. Once implanted, the progenitor cells housed in the device did mature into islet cells, but the trial didnt use enough stem cells to try to treat the condition.

Now Viacyte has implanted PEC-Direct packages containing more cells into two people with type 1 diabetes. A third person will also get the implant in the near future. Once inside the body, pores in the outer fabric of the device allow blood vessels to penetrate inside, nourishing the islet progenitor cells. Once these cells have matured which should take about three months the hope is that they will be able to monitor sugar levels in the blood, and release insulin as required.

If effective, it could free people with type 1 diabetes from having to closely monitor their blood sugar levels and inject insulin, although they would need to take immunosuppressive drugs to stop their bodies from destroying the new cells.

If successful, this strategy could really change the way we treat type 1 diabetes in the future, says Emily Burns of the charity Diabetes UK. A similar way to treat the condition with pancreas cells from organ donors has been in use for nearly 20 years, successfully freeing recipients from insulin injections, but a shortage of donors limits how many people are able to have this treatment.

This isnt a problem with stem cells. The embryonic stem cells used to make the progenitor cells originally came from a spare early stage embryo donated by a woman who was having IVF. Because embryonic stem cells, and the progenitor cells made from them, can be multiplied in limitless amounts, Laikand says that, if the treatment works, the method would be able to treat everyone who has the condition.

A limitless source of human insulin-producing cells would be a major step forward on the journey to a potential cure for diabetes, says James Shapiro at the University of Alberta, Canada, who has collaborated with Viacyte on this project, and who pioneered the donor pancreas method decades ago. For sure, this will in the end prove to be a durable landmark for progress in diabetes care.

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First implants of stem-cell pouches to 'cure' type 1 diabetes - New Scientist

What causes the body to age?

The Greek Philosopher Aristotle thought it was the hearta hot, dry organ at the seat of intelligence, motion and sensation.

Fast-forward a few centuries, and the brain has overthrown the heart as master of thought. But its control over bodily agingif anywas unclear. Because each organ has its own pool of stem cells to replenish aged tissue, scientists have long thought that the body has multiple aging clocks running concurrently.

As it turns out, thats not quite right.

This week, a study published in Nature threw a wrench into the classical theory of aging. In a technical tour-de-force, a team led by Dr. Dongsheng Cai from the Albert Einstein College of Medicine pinpointed a critical source of aging to a small group of stem cells within the hypothalamusan ancient brain region that controls bodily functions such as temperature and appetite.

Like fountains of youth, these stem cells release tiny fatty bubbles filled with mixtures of small biological molecules called microRNAs. With age, these cells die out, and the animals muscle, skin and brain function declines.

However, when the team transplanted these stem cells from young animals into a middle-aged one, they slowed aging. The recipient mice were smarter, more sociable and had better muscle function. Andget thisthey also lived 10 to 15 percent longer than mice transplanted with other cell types.

To Dr. David Sinclair, an aging expert at Harvard Medical School, the findings represent a breakthrough in aging research.

The brain controls aging, he says. I can see a day when we are implanted with stem cells or treated with stem cell RNAs that improve our health and extend our lives.

Its incredible to think that a tiny group of cells in one brain region could be the key to aging.

But to Cai, there are plenty of examples throughout evolution that support the theory. Experimentally changing a few of the 302 neurons in the nematode worm C. elegans is often sufficient for changing its lifespan, he says.

Of course, a mammalian brain is much more complicated than a simple worm. To narrow the problem down, Cai decided to zero in on the hypothalamus.

The hypothalamus has a classical function to regulate the whole bodys physiology, he says, so theres a natural logic for us to reason that the hypothalamus might be involved in aging, which was never studied before.

Even so, it was a high-risk bet. The hippocampusbecause of its importance in maintaining memory with ageis the most popular research target. And while the hypothalamus was previously somehow linked to aging, no one knew how.

Cais bet paid off. In a groundbreaking paper published in 2013, he found that a molecule called NF-kappaB increased in the hypothalamus as an animal grew older. Zap out NF-kappaB activity in mice, and they showed much fewer age-related symptoms as they grew older.

But heres the kicker: the effects werent limited to brain function. The animals also better preserved their muscle strength, skin thickness, bone and tendon integrity. In other words, by changing molecules in a single part of the brain, the team slowed down signs of aging in the peripheral body.

But to Cai, he had only solved part of the aging puzzle.

At the cellular level, a cornucopia of factors control aging. There is no the key to aging, no single molecule or pathway that dominates the process. Inflammation, which NF-kappaB regulates, is a big contributor. As is the length of telomeres, the protective end caps of DNA, and of course, stem cells.

Compared to other tissues in the body, stem cells in the brain are extremely rare. So imagine Cais excitement when, just a few years ago, he learned that the hypothalamus contains these nuggets of youth.

Now we can put the two threads together, and ask whether stem cells in the hypothalamus somehow regulate aging, he says.

In the first series of experiments, his team found that these stem cells, which line a V-shaped region of the hypothalamus, disappear as an animal ages.

To see whether declined stem cell function contributes to aging, rather as a result of old age, the researchers used two different types of toxins to wipe out 70 percent of stem cells while keeping mature neurons intact.

The results were striking. Over a period of four months, these mice aged much faster: their muscle endurance, coordination and treadmill performance tanked. Mentally, they had trouble navigating a water maze and showed less interest in socializing with other mice.

All of these physiological changes reflected an acceleration in aging, Cai and team concluded in their article.

And the consequences were dire: the animals died months earlier than similar transgenic animals without the toxin treatment.

If the decline in stem cell function is to blame for aging, then resupplying the aged brain with a fresh source of stem cells should be able to reinvigorate the animal.

To test this idea, the team isolated stem cells from the hippocampus of newborn mice, and tinkered with their genes so that they were more resilient to inflammation.

We know the aged hypothalamus has more inflammation and that hurts stem cells, so this step was necessary, explained the authors.

When transplanted into middle-aged mice, they showed better cognitive and muscular function four months later. Whats more, they lived, on average, 10 percent longer than mice transplanted with other cell types. For a human, that means extending an 85-year life expectancy into 93. Not too shabby.

But the best was yet to come. How can a few cells have such a remarkable effect on aging? In a series of follow-up experiments, the team found that the pool of biological molecules called microRNAs was to thank.

microRNAs are tiny molecules with gigantic influence. They come in various flavors, bearing rather unimaginative names like 106a-5p, 20a-5p and so on. But because they can act on multiple genes at the same time, they pack a big punch. A single type of microRNA can change the way a cell workswhether it activates certain signaling pathways or makes certain proteins, for example.

While most cells make microRNAs, Cai found that the hypothalamus stem cells have a unique, very strong ability to pack these molecules up into blobs of membrane and shoot them out like a bubble gun.

Once outside the cell, the microRNAs go on a fantastic voyage across the brain and body, where they tweak the biology of other tissues.

In fact, when the team injected purified little bubbles of microRNAs into middle-aged mice, they also saw broad rejuvenating effects.

Cai explains: we dont know if the microRNAs are pumped out to directly affect the rest of the body, or if they first act on different areas of the brain, and the brain goes on to regulate aging in the body.

Even so, the aging field is intrigued.

According to Dr. Leonard Guarente, an aging biologist at MIT, the study could lead to new ways to develop anti-aging therapies.

Whats more, its possible the intervention could stack with other known rejuvenating methods, such as metformin, young blood or molecules that clean out malfunctioning cells.

Its possible that stem-cell therapy could boost the hypothalamus ability to regulate aging. However, scientists still need to know how stem cells link with the hypothalamus other main role, that is, releasing hormones.

Of course, injecting cells into the brain isnt a practical treatment. The team is now working hard to identify which of the thousands of types of microRNAs control aging and what exactly they do.

Then the goal is to validate those candidate anti-aging microRNAs in primates, and eventually, humans.

Of course humans are more complex. However, if the mechanism is fundamental, you might expect to see effects when an intervention is based on it, says Cai.

Stock Media provided by digitalreflections / Pond5

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Breakthrough Stem Cell Study Offers New Clues to Reversing Aging - Singularity Hub

Very few people have ever heard ofthe concept of artificial skin transplants.That will change in the near future, though. Artificial skin transplants may be the one thing we need most to treat type 2 diabetes. The skin grafts based on CRISPR gene editing couldyield some very powerful results. Their first tests involving mice werepositive, butensuring the technology works for humans in the same way will besomething else entirely.

Alot of people may not like the sound of artificial skin transplants. It sounds a lot scarier than it really is, however. There is actually nothing to fear about them. In fact, we have been using artificial skin implants for several decades now.Burn patients often recover thanks to these implants, for example. Artificial skin implants have proven to be an invaluable tool in the world of healthcare so far, and it seems thenumber of use cases may be expanded upon. However,they havenever been deployed to treat diabetesup untilnow.

Scientists have now successfully used these implants to treat diabetes in mice. That is a major development in medicine. The researchers edited stem cells from newborn mice to control the release of ahormone stimulating insulin production. Once the cells were turned into skin grafts, they were given to mice suffering from diabetes.

The mice were not born with diabetes. Instead, researchers fed them high-fat diets to causeobesity. Acruel method, perhaps, thoughit is not uncommon to see this sort of thingin the medical sector. Obesity is still one of the main risk factors causing type 2 diabetes in humans. People with a high insulin resistance are particularly prone to developing thecondition. Diabeteswas induced in these mice usingsome modifications to create viable test criteria.

Once the mice received the artificial skin implants, their insulin resistance levels started to reverse. Additionally, they gained around half the weight as those not given the grafts. Thissuggests that people cantreat diabetes usingthese implants, although theywill not do much for anyone suffering from type 1 diabetes. Thosewho do suffer from that condition may soon have access to a cheap and efficient solution created from stem cells. The goal is to turn these stem cells into human skin over time.

There may be other clinical applicationsinvolving artificial skin implants we have yet to discover. Ever since doctors started treating burn patients with this technique, the quest to find other use cases has been in full effect. Thanks torecent breakthroughsin this field, one can now grow artificial skin in a lab. However, given the lack of human test subjects, finding other use cases has been pretty difficult. This is where the mice come into the picture, even though the results involving human subjects mightdiffer greatly.

This is not a cure for diabetes, but it is an approach to help people maintain their glucose levels. For now, it only works withtype 2 diabetes causedby obesity, but it is still an important breakthrough regardless. The bigger question is what other types of diseases may be treated through artificial skin implants.

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Scientists Use Artificial Skin Implants to Treat Type 2 Diabetes The ... - The Merkle

The secret to healing what ails you lies within your own DNA.(photo credit:DREAMSTIME)

Scientists have, for the first time, corrected a disease-causing mutation in early-stage human embryos using gene editing.

The technique, which uses the CRISPR- Cas9 system, corrected the mutation for a heart condition at the earliest stage of embryonic development so that the defect would not be passed on to future generations.

It could pave the way for improved in vitro fertilization outcomes as well as eventual cures for some thousands of diseases caused by mutations in single genes.

The breakthrough and accomplishment by American and Korean scientists, was recently explained in the journal Nature. Its a collaboration between the Salk Institute, Oregon Health and Science University and South Koreas Institute for Basic Science.

Thanks to advances in stem cell technologies and gene editing, we are finally starting to address disease-causing mutations that impact potentially millions of people, said Prof. Juan Carlos Izpisua Belmonte of Salks gene expression lab and a corresponding author of the paper. Gene editing is still in its infancy, so even though this preliminary effort was found to be safe and effective, it is crucial that we continue to proceed with the utmost caution, paying the highest attention to ethical considerations.

Though gene-editing tools have the power to potentially cure a number of diseases, scientists have proceeded cautiously partly to avoid introducing unintended mutations into the germ line (cells that become eggs or sperm).

Izpisua Belmonte is uniquely qualified to speak on the ethics of genome editing because, as a member of the Committee on Human Gene Editing at the US National Academies of Sciences, Engineering and Medicine, he helped author the 2016 roadmap Human Genome Editing: Science, Ethics and Governance.

Hypertrophic cardiomyopathy is the most common cause of sudden death in otherwise healthy young athletes, and affects approximately one in 500 people. It is caused by a dominant mutation in the MYBPC3 gene, but often goes undetected until it is too late. Since people with a mutant copy of the MYBPC3 gene have a 50% chance of passing it on to their own children, being able to correct the mutation in embryos would prevent the disease not only in affected children but also in their descendants.

The researchers generated induced pluripotent stem cells from a skin biopsy donated by a male with Hypertrophic cardiomyopathy and developed a gene-editing strategy based on CRISPR-Cas9 that would specifically target the mutated copy of the MYBPC3 gene for repair. The targeted mutated MYBPC3 gene was cut by the Cas9 enzyme, allowing the donors cells own DNA -repair mechanisms to fix the mutation during the next round of cell division by using either a synthetic DNA sequence or the non-mutated copy of MYBPC3 gene as a template.

Using IVF techniques, the researchers injected the best-performing gene-editing components into healthy donor eggs that are newly fertilized with donors sperm. All the cells in the early embryos are then analyzed at single-cell resolution to see how effectively the mutation was repaired.

They were surprised by the safety and efficiency of the method. Not only were a high percentage of embryonic cells get fixed, but also gene correction didnt induce any detectable off-target mutations and genome instability major concerns for gene editing.

The researchers also developed an effective strategy to ensure the repair occurred consistently in all the cells of the embryo, as incomplete repairs can lead to some cells continuing to carry the mutation.

Even though the success rate in patient cells cultured in a dish was low, we saw that the gene correction seems to be very robust in embryos of which one copy of the MYBPC3 gene is mutated, said Jun Wu, a Salk staff scientist and one of the authors.

This was in part because, after CRISPR- Cas9 mediated enzymatic cutting of the mutated gene copy, the embryo initiated its own repairs. Instead of using the provided synthetic DNA template, the team surprisingly found that the embryo preferentially used the available healthy copy of the gene to repair the mutated part.

Our technology successfully repairs the disease-causing gene mutation by taking advantage of a DNA repair response unique to early embryos, said Wu.

The authors emphasized that although promising, these are very preliminary results and more research will need to be done to ensure no unintended effects occur.

Our results demonstrate the great potential of embryonic gene editing, but we must continue to realistically assess the risks as well as the benefits, they added.

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Early gene-editing holds promise for preventing inherited diseases - The Jerusalem Post

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18 Beauty Buys to Pick Up on Your Next Whole Foods Run Brit + Co We're all about finding beauty in unexpected places. That's why our latest obsession also happens to be our go-to for groceries. Whole Foods is known for their tough quality standards for food, but it turns out they're just as thorough when it comes to ...

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CRISPR gene-editing therapy administered through skin grafts could help treat Type-2 diabetes and obesity, according to cutting-edge work carried out by researchers at the University of Chicago Medical Center.

Genetically modifying glucagon-like peptide 1 (GLP1), a hormone which stimulates the pancreas to secrete insulin, the researchers found that they were able to both decrease appetite and regulate blood sugar levels in mice. The work suggests that treatments such as insulin shots for diabetics could one day be replaced by simple skin grafts. This would be a significant advance since the procedure is safe, minimally invasive, inexpensive, and easy to monitor as well as not requiring patients toadminister their own ongoing treatment.

Skin transplant is easy to make with cultured skin stem cells, and has been used clinically for treatment of burn wound for decades, Xiaoyang Wu, an assistant professor at the University of Chicago, told Digital Trends. In this study, we took advantage of this well-established platform and showed that skin transplant with engineered skin stem cells can be used to deliver therapeutic proteins for treatment of obesity and diabetes. In animal models, we [have shown] this technology can reduce body weight gain and inhibit Type-2 diabetes development.

In the study, two groups of mice one with the skin grafts and another without were fed a high-fat diet. Those which had undergone the gene therapy gained only half the weight of those which had not, and developed less resistance to insulin. (Resistance to insulin can be a symptom that commonly precedes Type-2 diabetes.)

Our proof-of-concept work demonstrated the possibility for using engineered skin graft for treatment of many non-skin diseases, Wu said. Clinical translation of our findings will be relatively easy as skin transplantation in human patients have been well established and clinically used for many years. It is also a very versatile platform. The engineered skin grafts can be used to release many different therapeutic molecules, and the technique can be used for treatment of many other diseases, such as genetic disorders, including urea cycle disorders and hemophilia.

A paper describing the work was recently published in the journal Cell Stem Cell. Between this and some of the other innovative diabetes-related projects,hopefully we are not too far from finding a more permanent way to improve life for the more than the 30.3 millionU.S. adults who suffer from diabetes.

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Skin grafts could replace the need for insulin injections in diabetics - Yahoo News

A contagious face cancer has killed off a majority of an absolutely unique animal, the legendary Tasmanian devil.

The Devil Facial Tumor Disease has wiped out 80 percent of the marsupials over the last two decades, and there is no cure or vaccine.

A team at La Trobe University in Australia has developed big plans to derive induced pluripotent stem cells from the devils, which could help turn the tide that has endangered the remaining population of the animals.

The team, lacking funding, has turned to crowdfunding to continue the work, already underway for three years.

The campaign is called See No Devil, Hear No Devil and its goal is to benefit both the ferocious marsupials and humans alike.

The derivation of iPS cells from the Tasmanian Devil is just the first step in a long line of potential applications, Ismael Aguirre Maclennan, a doctoral student behind the work, told Laboratory Equipment. Ultimately, all these goals will increase our understanding of transmissible cancers and potentially uncover unknown mechanisms of cancer transmission that could be applicable to humans.

The stem cells are made by collecting a tiny fragment of the skin through an ear punch. The skin cells are then grown in the laboratory and coaxed into an embryonic-like state by an introduction of a specific set of genes.

Multiple objectives are identified from the team, from applications that would save the devils (currently endangered), to applications human medicine.

The team has so far been the first to generate stem cell lines from any marsupials, they said.

The devils iPS cells could be used to make gametes that would bring the species back from extinction, Aguirre Maclennan explains. The cells could also be genetically edited through CRISPR to provide resistance to the tumors. Additionally, the creation of the cancer cells could provide an in-depth look, allowing scientists to crack its genetic and pathological code.

Proposed in the $15,000 (Australian) campaign is a series of trips to collect samples from healthy Tasmanian devils in the wild and at a sanctuary in Melbourne. The price tag included buying an Engel portable fridge to ensure integrity of the samples, and a laptop and software to helm the campaign in the field. But some 67 percent of the costs would be for laboratory supplies needed to culture the cells and cryogenically preserve them, Aguirre Maclennan explained.

Exceeding the goal could mean working toward production of a stem cell vaccine against the deadly face cancer, according to the team.

We have special interest in using these marsupial stem cells to help save the highly endangered Tasmanian devil from possible extinction but we also seek to exploit the power of marsupial stem cells in biomedical research, said Aguirre Maclennan. We cannot, however, continue with our work due to the lack of funding and therefore this exciting progress may need to be halted permanently.

If you want to fight cancer while saving an endangered species, we wholeheartedly welcome your support, he added.

The campaign has so far raised about 10 percent of its goal through nine backers. But it continues through the weekend.

Amid tighter competition for funds, more and more laboratories and academic programs have turned to crowdfunding.

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Crowdfunding Campaign Seeks to Save Tasmanian Critter, Use iPS Cells to Research Cancer - Laboratory Equipment

MedicalResearch.com Interview with:

Dr. Xiaoyang Wu

Dr. Xiaoyang Wu PhDBen May Department for Cancer ResearchThe University of Chicago, Chicago, IL

MedicalResearch.com: What is the background for this study? What are the main findings?

Response: We have been working on skin somatic stem cells for many years. As one of the most studies adult stem cell systems, skin stem cells have several unique advantages as the novel vehicle for somatic gene therapy (summarized also in the paper). The system is well established. Human skin transplantation using CEA device developed from skin stem cells have been clinically used for decades for burn wound treatment, and been proven to be safe the effective.

In this study, we developed a skin 3D organoid culture model to induce stratification and maturation of mouse epidermal stem cells in vitro, which allows us to efficiently transfer engineered mouse skin to isogenic host animals. In the proof of concept study, we showed that we can achieve systematic release of GLP1 at therapeutic concentration by engineered skin grafts.

MedicalResearch.com: What should clinicians and patients take away from your report?Response: Engineered skin transplant may provide a safe and long term delivery system for treatment of many human diseases.

MedicalResearch.com: What recommendations do you have for future research as a result of this study?

Response: Before clinical translation, we will further characterize our mouse model of skin therapy, for the potential immune reaction, stability of skin grafts, and duration of the therapeutic effects in vivo. We are also interested in using our mouse model to test other potential applications of skin gene therapy, such as human genetic diseases, including hemophilia, urea cycle disorders.

There is no conflict-of-interest.

MedicalResearch.com: Thank you for your contribution to the MedicalResearch.com community.

Citation:Jiping Yue, Xuewen Gou, Yuanyuan Li, Barton Wicksteed, Xiaoyang Wu. Engineered Epidermal Progenitor Cells Can Correct Diet-Induced Obesity and Diabetes. Cell Stem Cell, 2017 DOI: 10.1016/j.stem.2017.06.016

http://www.cell.com/cell-stem-cell/fulltext/S1934-5909(17)30274-6?_returnURL=http%3A%2F%2Flinkinghub.elsevier.com%2Fretrieve%2Fpii%2FS1934590917302746%3Fshowall%3Dtrue

Note: Content is Not intended as medical advice. Please consult your health care provider regarding your specific medical condition and questions.

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Skin-Grafted Stem Cells May Treat Obesity and Diabetes - MedicalResearch.com (blog)

Scientists have created genetically altered skin cells that may control type 2 diabetes in lab mice. And they believe the general concept could someday be used to treat various diseases.

Using a combination of stem cells and "gene editing," the researchers created patches of skin cells that were able to release a hormone called GLP1 in a controlled manner.

The hormone, which is normally produced in the digestive tract, spurs the production of insulin -- the body's key regulator of blood sugar levels.

The scientists found that transplanting the engineered skin patches onto diabetic lab mice helped regulate their blood sugar levels over four months.

Xiaoyang Wu, a stem cell biologist at the University of Chicago, led the "proof of concept" study. He said it raises the possibility that "therapeutic skin grafts" could be used to treat a range of diseases -- from hemophilia to drug dependence.

Wu's team focused on type 2 diabetes in these initial experiments because it's a common condition.

However, a researcher not involved in the study doubted the usefulness of the approach for diabetes specifically.

People with type 2 diabetes already manage the disease with diet, exercise and medications -- including ones that target GLP1, said Juan Dominguez-Bendala.

Using high-tech gene therapy to get the same result seems unlikely, said Dominguez-Bendala, an associate professor at the University of Miami's Diabetes Research Institute.

"I don't see something like this coming to the clinic for diabetes," he said.

But Dominguez-Bendala also pointed to what's "cool" about the experiments.

Wu's team used a recently developed technology called CRISPR (pronounced "crisper") to create the skin patches. The technique, heralded as a major breakthrough in genetic engineering, allows scientists to make precision "edits" in DNA -- such as clipping a particular defect or inserting a gene at a specific location.

Before CRISPR, scientists could not control where an inserted gene would be integrated into the genome. It might end up in a "bad" location, Dominguez-Bendala explained, where it could, for example, "awaken" a tumor-promoting gene.

Wu and colleauges used CRISPR to make specific edits in GLP1, including one that allowed the gene to be turned "on" or "off" as needed, by using the antibiotic doxycycline.

The modified gene was inserted into mouse stem cells, which were then cultured into skin grafts in the lab. Finally, those grafts were transplanted onto lab mice.

The researchers found that when the mice were fed food with tiny amounts of doxycycline, the transplanted skin released GLP1 into the bloodstream. In turn, the animals' insulin levels rose and their blood sugar dipped.

The engineered skin also seemed to protect the mice from the ravages of a high-fat diet. When the mice were fed a fat-laden diet, along with doxycycline, they gained less weight versus normal mice given the same diet. They also showed less resistance to the effects of insulin, and lower blood sugar levels.

According to Wu, the study lays the groundwork for more research into using skin cells as a way to deliver "therapeutic proteins."

For instance, he said, skin cells could be engineered to provide an essential protein that is missing because of a genetic defect. As an example, he cited hemophilia -- a genetic disorder in which people lack a protein that allows the blood to clot properly.

Skin cells could be an ideal way to deliver such therapies, Wu said.

For one, the safety of skin grafts in humans is well-established, he pointed out. Since the 1970s, doctors have known how to harvest skin stem cells from burn victims, then use those cells to create lab-grown skin tissue.

Because the skin is generated from a patient's own stem cells, that minimizes the issue of an immune system attack on the tissue.

Dominguez-Bendala agreed that using skin cells has advantages. For one, he noted, the skin graft can be easily removed if something goes awry.

But a lot of work remains before therapeutic skin grafts could become a reality for any human disease. And research in animals doesn't always pan out in humans.

A next step, Wu said, is to see whether the skin grafts maintain their effects in lab mice over a longer period. The researchers will also monitor the animals for any immune system reactions against the GLP1 protein itself.

The findings were published online Aug. 3 in Cell Stem Cell.

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Engineered Skin Cells Control Diabetes in Mice - Newsmax

The skin grafts that genetically modified have then given to mice that fed high-fat diets to induce obesity.

A new form of gene therapy administered through skin transplants can help improve treatments for Type-2 diabetes and obesity, researchers have claimed. These mice saw a reverse in insulin resistance and gained around half as much weight as those not given the grafts, Engadget said.

Using high-tech gene therapy to get the same result seems unlikely, said Dominguez-Bendala, an associate professor at the University of Miami's Diabetes Research Institute.

Xiaoyang Wu: We have been working on skin somatic stem cells for a long time.

In the study, Wu and colleagues worked with skin because it is a large organ and easily accessible.

In fact, skin cell transplants look to be an ideal way to deliver gene therapy. Clinical translation of our findings will be relatively easy, as skin transplantation in human patients has been well established and clinically used for treatment of burn wounds for many years.

Using CRISPR, researchers from the University of Chicago edited the skin stem cells from newborn mice which prompted the cells to secrete glucagon-like peptide 1 (GLP1) - a hormone that stimulates the pancreas to secrete insulin and regulates blood sugar.

The extra insulin removes excessive glucose from the bloodstream, preventing the complications of diabetes. The hormone can also decrease appetite. This switch turns the gene on, as needed, to make more GLP-1. Using the genetic engineering tool CRISPR, the team inserted a mutation, adding an antibody fragment to the gene that would make the GLP-1 last longer in the blood and an additional modification to the targeting vector that would also attach an inducible promoter.

Wu and colleauges used CRISPR to make specific edits in GLP1, including one that allowed the gene to be turned "on" or "off" as needed, by using the antibiotic doxycycline. As one of the most studied adult stem cell systems, skin stem cells have several unique advantages as the novel vehicle for somatic gene therapy.

The hormone, which is normally produced in the digestive tract, spurs the production of insulin - the body's key regulator of blood sugar levels. About 80% of the engineered skin grafts successfully transplanted onto a small spot on each mouse host's back and began secreting GLP-1 upon the appropriate induction cue. Animals fed on a high-fat diet also did not put on any weight. "Or it could function as a metabolic sink, removing various toxins". He said it raises the possibility that "therapeutic skin grafts" could be used to treat a range of diseases - from hemophilia to drug dependence. The team has demonstrated that skin transplants are not only an efficient way to deliver gene therapy, but that the process can be effectively triggered by an external chemical source.

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Artificial skin transplants could help treat diabetes - ExpressNewsline

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